PS Portions

In February’s PS Portions, President David Lose asks, “Have you started praying yet for next year’s LTSP students?” Plus stories on the 2015 El Salvador Travel Seminar, LTSP DMin students talk about their ministry and why they are studying for a DMin, an update in the February 17 dedication of the Bornemann harpsichord, ELCA seminary leaders respond, updates on Preaching with Power and Spring Convocation 2015, plus Class Notes and LTSP notes – and more…

A quick, but important question: Have you started praying yet for next year’s LTSP students? I ask because this past weekend we had 30 or so folks on campus exploring their sense of call to leadership in the church and to the possibility of enrolling as students at LTSP. And it occurred to me what […]

Second-year seminarian Sharon Richter of Philadelphia says her travel seminar visit to El Salvador in January “helped me face the realities of the oppressed world” while discovering how people facing trials in another land “still come out hopeful because they trust in their faith.” She described the people she met in the Central American country […]

Upstate New York Synod Pastors Scott Hannon and Douglas Stewart are studying for DMin advanced-level degrees at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) in order to become better, more relevant pastors in their congregational settings. But both serve in considerably different contexts. Hannon, a Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary graduate, has been a pastor for […]

On Tuesday, February 17, 2015 at 11:30 am, Dr. Michael Krentz will present a dedicatory concert celebrating the rebuilding of the seminary’s harpsichord. Dr. Krentz is Lecturer and Director of Music Ministries/Seminary Cantor at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. Assisting Dr. Krentz will be members of the LTSP community, including students Lisa Helmel Thomas, […]

On January 17th, 2015, a large group of African-American presidents and deans in theological education posted “An Open Letter to Presidents and Deans of Theological Schools in the United States” on Huffington Post. Leaders of the seven seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as a group responded In the face of such a call, believing they “cannot keep silent. We want to make a public response, both acknowledging the justice of that call and also confessing our failure to live into it as we ought.” Here is the response.

Six distinguished African American preachers from a rich variety of backgrounds will headline this year’s 33rd anniversary edition of Preaching with Power in Philadelphia congregations the week of March 15, 2015. The program will include an African American Sacred Music concert at The Lutheran Theological Seminary of Philadelphia’s (LTSP) Schaeffer-Ashmead Chapel at 11:15 am Wednesday March 18.

“Living on the Edge” will be the topic explored when The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) convenes its Spring Convocation on the seminary’s campus Monday and Tuesday, April 27-28, 2015. The convocation begins Monday with registration at 4:00 pm and at 5:00 pm a cookout for registrants, family, and friends. A 7:00 pm closing will feature Scripture, camp songs, prayer, and a reminder of the Tuesday schedule. Informal gatherings will then take place in local establishments or in various rooms on the campus, such as Lull Lounge.

LTSP Faculty leading June 2015 tour to LutherLand LTSP professors the Rev. Dr. Karl Krueger and Dr. Michael Krentz are guiding a trip to Germany June 12 – 21, 2015, sponsored by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod’s Reformation 500 committee. What better way to prepare for the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation in 2017 than to visit historical sites […]

Slate magazine declared 2014 as “The Year of Outrage.” Outrage over the police shootings and excessive use of force. Outrage over environmental degradation. Outrage over proposed environmental laws to curb pollution. Outrage over human rights abuses in North Korea and other places around the world. Outrage over, well, the lack of outrage about human rights abuses. Everywhere you look, there seems to be a sense of outrage, expressed especially and relentlessly on social media. I don’t think that’s an accident.

“God has a way of preparing you for your life ahead … If you trust that God is in charge, that God reigns, then no matter what life throws at you, if you keep your eyes on God you will find a way to get through it. After the storm the sun will shine.” The Rev. Moses Suah-Dennis knows something about the storms of life, as does his native Liberia, suffering through an Ebola epidemic, and the congregation he serves, which almost died before Suah-Dennis, an alumnus (MDiv 2005) of The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), arrived as a mission developer to re-energize the place.

The Rev. Dr. Magdalena Naanhule Ya-Shalongo, recipient of two degrees from The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP), is a pioneering woman in her native African country of Namibia, serving as a pastor, educator, and the first ever woman to hold the office of principal for the Engela Parish Institute (EPI) there.

It was a compelling evening of expressive reflection at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) December 16 in the wake of tragic events during which the names of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice, and others have stirred the conscience of America. Billed as “A Teach-In: Moving from Fear to Flourishing after Ferguson,” six leaders on the program shared their thoughts in a truly interfaith call to action.

Dr. Michael Krentz has a clear understanding of the vocation of a church musician: “I tell people interested in a church music career that one challenge the church is facing is that it is really difficult to make a living as a church musician,” he said. “You need to be ready to do something else AND serve as a church musician.”

Seminary Director of Music Ministries and Cantor Michael Krentz deeply appreciates the worship and music legacy he has inherited from others across the school’s history. One special way he gets to relive that legacy is by playing a newly restored harpsichord that is now found in the worship space in the Schaeffer-Ashmead Memorial Chapel.

A group of fifty 18-30 year olds and leaders met January 8-11, 2015, in New York City for the Epiphany-themed “Shining in, Shining out.” The weekend included service projects, vocational discernment conversations, and post-dinner community reflection time. Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Leymah Gbowee was a special guest, and joined in conversation with the attendees.

This month’s LTSP Notes include a story about the SOLI Institute awarding LTSP two grants; updates from the Rev. Dr. Katie Day, the Rev. Dr. Karyn Wiseman, and the Rev. The Rev. Heidi Rodrick-Schnaath; and an obituary for Ruth M. Aden, a member of the LTSP community for 27 years and wife of emeritus professor LeRoy Aden.

In December’s PS Portions, LTSP President David Lose reflects on “Advent is my favorite season,” we bring you stories, photos and video from Inauguration Weekend as David Lose became twelfth president of LTSP, plus “Advent Reflections for Days of Waiting,” images from the Annual Tree Lighting – A Photo Gallery, “After a Wawa robbery,” LTSP Notes and Class Notes, and more…

Advent is my favorite season in the church year. By far. Perhaps I should clarify that it’s the “new” Advent that I particularly adore. For a very long time, Advent was simply a “little Lent” — same colors, same themes, same mood. But within the last generation or so, Advent has come into its own. […]

Several members of the seminary community offered thoughtful reflections for our readers in keeping with the special season of Advent. Challenged and confronted… During this Advent season we are faced with the reality that life in church and society in the past, and also today, is colorful, mixed, and never predictable, and it is with […]

LTSP’s annual Tree Lighting on William Allen Plaza brought together the seminary and wider Mt. Airy community for caroling, refreshment, fellowship – and lighting the tree! – on Friday, December 5, 2014. LTSP president the Rev. David Lose and newly elected Pennsylvania State Senator Art Haywood offered remarks. Caroling was led by a Christmas […]

After the Wawa convenience store on Germantown Avenue at Allens Lane was robbed December 3, it didn’t take the seminary community long to perform a ministry of public presence for the store and its employees who for years have fed the seminary community with a steady diet of tasty hoagies, sandwiches, and coffee. According to […]

| Banquet Highlights | Inaugural Lecture 1 | Inaugural Lecture 2 | This edition features several stories from Inauguration weekend and the installation of David Lose as the twelfth president of LTSP. Click on the links above to navigate between the stories. David J. Lose was installed as the twelfth president of The Lutheran Theological […]

| Installation Service | Inaugural Lecture 1 | Inaugural Lecture 2 | From Trustee Pastor John Richter: “…We are blessed with different perspectives: faculty, donors, board of trustees, bishops, staff students, ecumenical friends, community leaders, and from those different angles of vision, one realization that I trust is common to all of us: LTSP is […]

| Installation Service | Banquet Highlights | Inaugural Lecture 2 | In a few words, Dr. Audrey West summed up the fears and the concerns of many of her listeners about the state of the church today. “People are telling those of us committed to Christ that it is just not working anymore,” she said. “The […]

Avoiding simple platitudes is one key in an age of consumption, to helping strangers form their faith in today’s church, Theologian Andrew Root told an LTSP audience December 8, 2014. During one poignant moment in his remarks addressing the theme for the day, “Faith Formation and the Future of the Church,” Dr. Root told a […]

The Rev. Colleen Montgomery, MDiv 2013, Associate Pastor at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Bloomington, IN I have been called to be the Associate Pastor at St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Bloomington, IN. This was the site of my internship. I was ordained on December 12, 2014 at St. Thomas. The Rev. Dr. Julius Carroll, […]

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